Rolling Thunder March

[BflatBass]

I'm going to be playing this March in one of my community bands next week and after listening to a couple of YouTube videos I'm just wondering, is there more than one trombone part or are they all in unison? Im sure there may be different versions/arrangements but what is most common? I'd like to pick up a copy of the lowest bone part online (that's what I normally play) today to get a head start on practicing before our first rehearsal on Monday. But if it's no different than the 1st part then I can just borrow a friend's copy.

Thanks,
Robert

[kingsk1117]

According to the score on the JW Pepper website, there are 3 Tbn parts. 1st and 2nd are the same except for a few split notes on longer-held chords. 3rd part is written separately, but it appears to be identical to 1st/2nd except for just a handful of measures. The YouTube video of the University of Texas Wind Ensemble playing with Joe Alessi and the UT Trombone Studio was amazing. Watching the slides, it looked like a violin section with all bows going the same direction at the same time. Worth watching and listening to.

[BflatBass]

According to the score on the JW Pepper website, there are 3 Tbn parts. 1st and 2nd are the same except for a few split notes on longer-held chords. 3rd part is written separately, but it appears to be identical to 1st/2nd except for just a handful of measures. The YouTube video of the University of Texas Wind Ensemble playing with Joe Alessi and the UT Trombone Studio was amazing. Watching the slides, it looked like a violin section with all bows going the same direction at the same time. Worth watching and listening to.

Yes I watched the same video. Hopefully our conductor will be taking the tempo down a few notches. The average talent pool in this community band won't be able to handle that kind of speed.
I think the most difficult/critical parts are all in unison so I'll just borrow my friend's 1st part to get a head start.

Cheers,
Robert

[brtnats]

I’ve played it a few times. There are 3 parts, but the hard licks are all in unison.

This is the piece of music I had to learn double tonguing to play as a teenager. It’s a great workout for a trombone section.

[BGuttman]

Parts are here:

https://www.bandmusicpdf.org/bmpdf/R/RollingThunder.pdf

[timothy42b]

Here's an example of an average or maybe slightly below average community band playing it:

https://app.box.com/s/0ikjt7m6c7jarf0a4bdzepfy42dp3rm0

No, it doesn't sound much like the Eastman Wind Ensemble under Frederick Fennell:



I'm the trombone player and I'm trying to push the tempo; you can be the judge. Whoops, that came out wrong - I'm the trombone player with the community band, not the Eastman! I'm not sure who else was playing, might have been a euph in the house too.

Personally I found a huge advantage to working out alternate positions for this one, and I've always been surprised to watch the pros doing this at ATW and not using any.

[BGuttman]

Tim, I feel for your poor tuba player hanging on for dear life while the trombones rush the tempo. What was the guy waving the stick doing? Circles?

[timothy42b]

in this band, generally I follow the stick while the band drags, until we get to the point where I'm being wrong, then the stick and I slow down to them, and the cycle repeats.

I don't remember how many trombones there were that day. Generally I'm the only one with that band, and the director tries to corral a couple of subs for the concert, but if she can't she'll put the extra on the euph.

The year before we did Frolic for Trombones and I took some criticism for playing it way too slow when i posted a link. This was a few years back, and I sound really sloppy, but that night there were two of us, playing pBones. I have improved considerably since then (thanks to a couple lessons from Doug.)

[JohnL]

What was the guy waving the stick doing? Circles?

That is the universal conductor signal for "HELP ME!"

The risk with slowing down Rolling Thunder (or any screamer, for that matter) is that it'll end up in that no-man's-land where it's too slow to comfortably double tongue and too fast to comfortably single tongue. Of course, that's secondary to the fact that Fillmore wrote it as a screamer and it should be played that way. Mash down on the gas from the start and don't let up 'til you run out of notes.